


Heat Wave

by TheInsaneFox



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alpha Keith, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Biting, Blow Jobs, Bonding, College AU, Disaster Gays, Disaster gay Shiro, Eventual Smut, Heat Cycles, Knotting, M/M, Marking, Ok now there's knotting in the last chapter, Omega Shiro, Omegaverse, Relationship Talks, coffee shop AU, consent discussions during heat, there will be knotting in future chapters I promise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-09
Updated: 2018-10-02
Packaged: 2019-06-07 14:33:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15221282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheInsaneFox/pseuds/TheInsaneFox
Summary: Shiro is an omega working in a coffee shop and trying to pay his way through college. Keith is a hot customer who comes into the shop and makes Shiro start to question his distrust of Alphas. When they meet serendipitously at a party, things start to get heated and Shiro finds himself in a predicament he had hoped never to be in.





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> So this was originally written for a writing challenge I did with a group of friends. As is par for the course with me, what was supposed to be a short one-shot got out of control and will now be a few chapters long.
> 
> Let me start by saying I really do love omegaverse stories!
> 
> But basically, we decided to take the idea of overused AU's and tropes in fanfiction and kind of run with them. In my case, I took omegaverse and decided to turn some of the popular tropes in it on their head. It's just what I wanted to do with this particular story, so I'm hoping people don't hate it too much. But I also wanted to explore the idea of Omega!Shiro and Alpha!Keith, while also bringing in discussions of consent.
> 
> Anyway, don't worry, there will be plenty of smut and A/B/O knotting, slick, etc. Just gotta wait until a bit later in the story :)
> 
> Moral of the story: Please just don't take this too seriously. It's meant to be fun!

Shiro couldn’t decide what the worst part of his day was. It had been an epic one, beginning with a dick of a professor telling him his grades were suffering and he needed to quit his job (despite Shiro explaining that he wasn’t working 40 hours a week at a minimum wage job on top of being a full-time student just for the fun of it), and ending with the fact that he’d been dealing with a series of fuck ass customers since his shift at the coffee shop had started a little over two hours ago. And if one more person gave him crap about being the physically biggest omega they’d ever seen--well, he wouldn’t lose it since Shiro was known for having the patience of a saint. But he might snap at someone.  
  


He tried to be understanding now at work because it was finals week. He got it. As a fellow student at the nearby Altea University, he was in the midst of his own personal hell. So he tried to see where the overtired zombie students were coming from. He was even trying to cut the professors that came into the little coffee shop a break. But they were all still raging assholes to him when all he was doing was trying to give them their caffeine nectar to keep going.  
  


Nothing had gone right that day and he was extremely tired from it all. He suspected a lot of it it was just blatant sexism, but he really couldn’t bring himself to focus on that at the moment. His main goal was to make it home before he passed out from exhaustion somewhere in public.  
  


Grumbling as he squirted more too-sweet whipped cream onto yet another overpriced latte, Shiro plopped it down on the counter a little more harshly than he meant to and called out the order. The guy who had ordered it grabbed it without so much as a “thank you” and took it back to his table.  
  


“Careful, dude. You’re going to end up spilling one on a customer,” Shiro’s best friend, Matt Holt, gave him a playful shove on the shoulder as he walked by to refill the creamer.  
  


“Whatever,” Shiro sighed, leaning against the counter. It was the first moment he’d had to breathe since his shift started and he was going to milk it for all it was worth.  
  


Matt continued to mess with some stuff on the counter before turning around to face him. “Hey, what are you doing tonight? There’s a party going on at the Kappa house that Katie is dragging a bunch of her friends too.”  
  
  
Shiro leveled Matt with the most unimpressed look he could muster. “You’re asking me to go with you and your sister to a  _ frat party _ ?”  
  
  
Matt laughed at that. “Yeah, I am. You’ve been working yourself to death and could use a night off.”  
  
  
“Jesus,” Shiro groaned, “I hate frat parties.”   
  
  
“You’re allergic to fun, you mean,” Matt snorted before moving over to start cleaning the espresso machine.  
  


“You know large crowds make me nervous. The last thing I want is for some douche-bro alpha to jump me.” Shiro wasn’t sure why Matt had such a hard time grasping this concept when they went through it every time Matt brought up going out. Probably because Matt was a beta and these things didn’t matter to him.

  
And yet Matt still met Shiro with a pathetic, “Pleaseeeee?”

  
Shiro didn’t even justify that with a response, and instead went back to work.  
  


A new customer walked in the door and Shiro jumped on the opportunity to stop cleaning and having to listen to Matt ramble about how awesome the party was going to be. Shiro was only half paying attention while he walked over, but when he finally looked up to greet the customer, he felt his heart do that stupid thing where it skips a beat--just like in all the cheesy shojo anime his sister used to make him watch with her when they were kids.  
  


The customer in front of him was possibly the most gorgeous human Shiro had ever laid eyes on, even despite the mullet that belonged back in the 90’s. His eyes were set in what appeared to be a permanent look of disgust with his surroundings, but that almost made him even more endearing for some unknown reason. Shiro had always been one to appreciate honesty in others, and this guy had the look of someone who gave no fucks and would tell you exactly like it is. It didn’t take a genius to realize this guy was an alpha, and it made Shiro both uncomfortable and excited all at once.  
  


Shiro took a second to compose himself when the customer approached the register. He’d barely even logged back into the till when the guy threw a five dollar bill down on the counter and looked him dead in the eye. “Coffee, black. No sweetener, no flavors, no cream. Just black.”  
  


“Coming right up.” Shiro smiled his best customer service smile as he grabbed a cup and began writing on it.  
  
  
The customer seemed unamused.  
  
  
“Can I have a name for your order?”  
  


The man sighed. “I’m the only one ordering, why does it matter?”  
  


_ It doesn’t, I just want to know your name _ Shiro thought but didn’t dare say out loud.  
  
  
“Store policy,” he said instead, the lie rolling off him with ease. It was his go-to when customers were being difficult.  
  
  
“Fine,” the man rolled his eyes. “Keith.”  
  


“Alright, I’ll get that right out for you, Keith,” Shiro winked in what he hoped came across as flirty.  
  


Judging by the unimpressed look on Keith’s face, Shiro was failing at that last part.  
  


He quickly poured the coffee and handed it to Keith. Keith barely nodded in acknowledgment before walking over to an empty table and pulling out a computer.  
  


A sharp elbow in his ribs brought Shiro back to Earth. “Close your mouth, you’re getting drool in the muffins.”  
  


“Fuck off, Matt,” Shiro groaned.  
  


Matt ignored that. “So are you coming to the party tonight?”  
  
  
Shiro spared a glance back at the gorgeous man, Keith, and looked back at his best friend. It really had been ages since Shiro had done anything fun. And seeing such an attractive person was a painful reminder of how long it had been since he’d gotten laid.

  
“You know what? Fine. I’ll go.”

 

* * *

 

The party was everything Shiro expected it to be from the moment he walked in the door: loud, douche-bro frat guys screaming everywhere, shitty music, and even shittier alcohol. Really, he was a senior and Matt was a grad student, why the fuck were they even at one of these god-awful parties?  
  


Thankfully Matt’s colleague, Allura, seemed to be on the same page as him, as she took a sip of her Jungle Juice and made a face that said she would rather skin herself alive than continue drinking that crap. “Who taught these idiots how to mix a drink?”   
  
  
Matt laughed as he took a swig of his own drink. “Nobody. Frat guys just dump whatever alcohol they can find and mix it with Kool-Aid and call it a day.”   
  
  
Allura let out a long-suffering sigh as she threw her drink out in the nearest trash can and grabbed a can of beer off the table instead.  
  


Shiro carefully sipped at his cheap beer and stuck close to Matt and Allura’s sides. The alpha assholes were already sniffing around, and since Matt was a beta and Allura an alpha, he figured he’d be safe if he stayed close to them.  
  
  
Unfortunately, most of the alpha bros were too drunk to care that he was with an alpha already. Within minutes, Allura was pretending that Shiro was her omega, arm firmly secured around his waist and snarling death threats at the other alphas who got too close. Amazingly, it worked, though he suspected it was because they were too lazy and inebriated to actually want to fight for him.  
  


“Thank you, Allura. I mean it.” Shiro said as another dismissed alpha stumbled away.  
  


Allura beamed at him. “Don’t mention it. It’s what friends are for.”  
  


Shiro was just beginning to think this party wasn’t worth the effort and was getting ready to ditch his friends and call it a night, when a sharp female voice cut through the air. “MATTIE!”  
  


He looked up just in time to see a small brunette blur throw itself at Matt. Said blur was immediately identified as Matt’s little sister, Katie, although he was the only who called her that. Everyone else knew her as Pidge, due to some weird story where someone asked for her name at a party their freshman year, and she panicked and the only thing she could think of at the moment was Pigeon. Pidge just kind of stuck after that.  
  


Matt was slowly detangling his sister’s drunk limbs from his body as he set her down on the ground, grabbing her arm as she swayed a little. “Where are your friends?”   
  
  
She waved her arm around in what was supposed to be a gesture in some direction. “Over there--I think.”  
  


Sighing, Matt grabbed her arm and began walking towards where he thought these other friends might be. “Come on, I’m not leaving you alone until we find them.”  
  


Shiro had no idea who these people they were trying to find were, so he just walked behind them and made small talk with Allura to kill the time while they walked from room to room.  
  


It took until the third room before someone yelled “Pidge! There you are!”  
  


A small group of people were clustered around a beer pong table and waving in Pidge’s general direction. Matt must have recognized them as a look of relief washed over his face and he replied, “Hey, Hunk, Lance! Long time no see!”  
  


Shiro wasn’t paying attention, thinking they were just going to deposit Pidge with her friends and leave again, but Matt seemed determined to stay a few minutes and talk with this group. Even Allura joined  the conversation, so by then Shiro just resigned himself to being around for a bit. Pidge’s friends were nice enough, especially the one people kept calling Hunk, so he tried to stick to speaking with him mostly. There was also Lance, but he was too busy trying to flirt with Allura and getting comically shut down to bother making conversation with anyone else.  
  


Eventually, a new voice joined the group, and Shiro felt a shiver go down his spine when he heard it.  
  
  
“Got your drinks. It’s Lance’s turn next time. The assholes hovering around that table are impossible to move past.”  
  


Somehow, standing right in front of him was Keith, the gorgeous stranger from earlier at work.  
  


Keith looked over at him and Shiro saw what he thought was a flash of recognition in his eyes, but it was gone before he could truly identify it.    
  
  
With a huff, drinks were deposited in people’s hands before Keith grabbed a beer for himself and took a long pull from it. The others were lost in conversation and Shiro desperately wanted to say something to Keith, but was struggling to find the right way to break the ice. There was a reason Shiro was an aerospace engineering major--he was hardly known for his social skills. Which was funny, really, given how people just assumed that as a muscular guy who worked out regularly, that he was just some fuck boy gym rat. Then once they started talking they usually realized how awkward he was and eventually gave up on the conversation.  
  


He received a sideways glance from Keith, who must have taken pity on him because he finally spoke, “You’re the guy from the coffee shop, right?”  
  


_ That _ surprised, Shiro. “Uh, yeah. I am.”  
  


Keith nodded at that. “I thought you looked familiar.”  
  
  
Another awkward silence blanketed them for a long moment. Shiro started picking at the label on his beer bottle as he wracked his brain for something to say. He wasn’t sure why he was struggling to come up with something, anything, to talk about with this guy, other than his brain was short circuiting from how attractive he was.  
  


“So, uh, how do you know Pidge?” Shiro finally asked and mentally patted himself on the back for thinking of that question.  
  


“Class.” Keith replied, not offering to elaborate beyond that.  
  


“Oh. Are you a computer science major as well?”  
  


Somehow, of all the things he could have said,  _ that _ was finally what got Keith to crack a smile. “God, no. I suck with computers. I’m an astrophysics major. I met Pidge and the others in some bullshit history gen ed we all had to take freshman year. Somehow we bonded over our hatred of it and we’ve been friends ever since.”  
  


Shiro had to laugh at that reaction to his question. He’d pegged Keith as someone who had no interest in small talk, but he was realizing that once they found the right topic of conversation he would just open up.  
  


“How do you know her?” Keith asked in return.  
  


“Oh, I’ve been best friends with Matt since we were kids. Now we work together and he’s in the grad program I’m trying to get into next year, so he’s been helping me a lot with that. We also live together so I basically never get a break from the guy.”  
  


Keith smiled an actual smile at that. “Yeah, the Holts are pretty awesome, huh?”  
  


Somehow, it was like the floodgates finally opened because the conversation moved between them with relative ease from then on out. Time became irrelevant, and Shiro had polished off his third beer when he realized that he and Keith were actually getting along. In fact, the conversation was flowing so well that Shiro was embarrassed to admit that he’d forgotten about all of their other friends.  
  


Allura was finally the one to step in and remind Shiro that they weren’t alone. “I’m going to grab another drink, you want one?”  
  
  
Shiro shook his head and mouthed a ‘thank you’ to her as she left the room.  
  


At some point, someone finally changed the music. They stopped playing all the damn party classics, like Cupid Shuffle and Cha Cha Slide, and whoever took over must have found a decent dance mix on Spotify because suddenly everyone was in the middle of the room and throwing their bodies around in time to the music.  
  


To Shiro’s surprise, Keith jerked his head in the direction of the makeshift dance floor. “Wanna dance?”  
  


“Sure!” Shiro replied just loud enough to be heard over the music.  
  


Downing the rest of his drink, Keith tossed the empty Solo cup in the general direction of the wall before grabbing Shiro’s hand and leading the way. Oddly enough, Shiro took a moment to realize that Keith was actually significantly shorter than him. While his large size was very rare for an omega, he was surprised that an alpha like Keith could be so much smaller than him. He had been told in all of his biology and health classes growing up that omegas were small, feminine, and submissive in nature, whereas alphas were large, dominant, and brash. And yet here he and Keith were, total anomalies for their secondary genders and not thinking anything of it.  
  


He couldn’t help but smile at that thought.  
  


“What are you smiling about?” Keith teased once they found a space large enough for two people.  
  


“Nothing,” Shiro replied, allowing himself to be pulled towards Keith until their bodies just fit together like they were made for each other.  
  


They moved together in perfect sync as song after song played from the laptop that was hastily hooked up to some speakers in the corner of the room. Neither made any indication that they wanted to take a break. Eventually, Keith grabbed Shiro’s hips and pulled him so that they were flush against each other, pelvises grinding against one another while they swayed and moved in time with the heavy club beat.  
  


Keith leaned forward and breathed in Shiro’s scent at the nape of his neck.  
  


“What are you doing?” Shiro asked nervously, but having no desire to push Keith way.  
  


“Smelling you. I never would have pegged you for an omega.” Keith’s voice was both teasing and intrigued.  
  


“Yeah. I get that a lot.” Shiro replied, dropping it at that.  
  


“You don’t smell marked. I thought that white-haired girl was your alpha,” Keith didn’t sound accusatory, merely curious.  
  


“Allura? No, we’re just old friends. And she’s seeing someone else,” Shiro laughed at the idea; he and Allura were so close he sometimes introduced her as his adopted sister to people.  
  


Keith hummed in response but didn’t pull away. Instead, they continued to dance like that, closer together and communicating through body language rather than words. There was an intangible heat between them as they moved, flames growing with every drop of the beat. Heat that seemed to flow into Shiro until it was begging to be let out, and the only one who could douse it was Keith--  
  


Oh. Fuck.  
  


Somehow Shiro had missed that the burning heat was between his legs. Screaming internally to himself  _ Motherfucker not NOW. Damn it, body, no, no, no! _ Keith shot him a puzzled look as Shiro pulled away with a pitiful whine.  
  
  
“Shiro? Are you okay?” Keith asked, but sniffed the air around him.  
  


Keith’s eyes went wide as he seemed to realize the situation they were in.  
  


“Oh shit! Shiro, are you--?”   
  
  
“In heat? Yes. Fucking kill me. I have to get out of here before the other alphas in this party smell me.”  
  


“Umm, about that…”  
  


Shiro felt his stomach bottom out at that comment. “Fuck. They can already smell it, can’t they?”  
  


“Yeah.”  
  


Sure enough, several alpha guys had begun to come closer to them, looking Shiro over predatorily. Even Keith looked like he was working extra hard to even out his breathing, although whether from the rut or the desire to fight the other alphas was unclear. When he looked up to meet Shiro’s eyes, he leaned forward and whispered just loud enough so only Shiro could hear, “We should leave. Now.”  
  


Not trusting himself to speak, Shiro nodded in response. He allowed Keith to grab his hand and begin dragging him out towards the front door to the house. Belatedly he realized he should have told Matt and Allura where he was going, but decided a quick text would be enough to solve that problem.  
  


“I don’t live too far from here. I hope you’re okay with walking, I’m in no condition to drive right now. You can stay with me until it passes.” Keith said over his shoulder as he lead the way to where Shiro assumed was his apartment.  
  


Part of him thought this was how people get murdered, but between his heat and a quick reminder that Keith was friends with Pidge, he squashed the rising ball of anxiety that welled up in his stomach at that thought.  
  


Suddenly Keith yanked him in the direction of a paved walkway which led to the front of a nondescript apartment building. With a jingle of keys, he unlocked the door and indicated to Shiro to follow him to his second story apartment.  
  


The inside of his apartment was minimalist with only a few posters of space as decorations. It was somehow exactly how Shiro imagined his apartment would be, but the heat between his legs and the rapidly growing haze that was clouding his mind reminded him of the current issue at hand.  
  


“Keith,” Shiro whined, walking up to Keith and rubbing his clothed erection against his thigh.  
  


He could feel the slick pooling between his legs now and watched carefully as Keith’s nostrils flared and he bit down hard on his own lip. In the back of his mind, Shiro knew this was wrong, that it was just the hormones taking control, but he was so overwhelmed with this burning heat of want/lust/need that he was quickly losing any semblance of autonomy.  
  


With a painful sounding sigh, Keith finally grabbed Shiro by the shoulder and shoved him away. “Shiro, wait. We can’t do this.”  
  


“Please,” Shiro was on the verge of sobbing by now.  
  


“No,” Keith said more firmly. “You’re in heat, you’re not thinking clearly.”  
  


“What do I do?” Shiro could feel frustrated tears in the corners of his eyes. He hated this. He finally met an alpha he actually  _ liked _ and his body had to go and betray him and put him in the worst possible position imaginable.  
  


Keith seemed to be thinking, looking around his apartment frantically until it looked like something clicked in his mind. “Come with me.”

  
Shiro nodded and followed Keith into his bedroom at the end of the small hallway. He gently pushed on Shiro’s shoulders and forced him to sit down on the bed before he began to start wrapping blankets around him. When those were used, he went to his closet and grabbed some large shirts and hoodies to add to the pile.

  
  
“What are you doing?” Shiro asked, the haze in his mind so thick now he wasn’t sure how much longer he would be able to speak in full sentences.  
  


“Making you a nest.” Keith responded, as if it should be obvious. “It won’t fix this but it will help a little.”   
  
  
Shiro nodded and felt himself relax into the makeshift nest. Even though he barely knew Keith, the smell was comforting and he soon felt a slight reprieve from the overwhelming need his body was forcing on him. He must have dozed off, because suddenly he felt Keith’s hand gently shaking his shoulder. He looked up to see him holding a bottle of water and a bottle of Advil in front of him.   
  
  
“It will help bring down your body temperature a bit,” Keith urged.  
  


Shiro took the medicine gratefully and guzzled the water without a second thought. When he relaxed back into his nest, he could feel gentle fingers running through his hair in slow, comforting movements. Although it wasn’t the type of bodily contact he was craving, it definitely helped a little.  
  


Keith was chuckling from somewhere above him. “Shiro, are you  _ purring? _ ”  
  


Embarrassed, Shiro felt the blood rush to his cheeks at that realization. “Oh, my fucking God. I think I am.”  
  


With a pathetic whine, Shiro buried himself deep into the nest so Keith couldn’t touch him or see him suffer in his humiliation. Keith tried to reassure him that it was fine, it was cute even, but Shiro wasn’t having any of it--especially since Keith was laughing the entire time that he was trying to cheer Shiro up .  
  


Shiro just sat there in silence and wished beyond all hope that a sinkhole would suddenly open up in the floor and swallow him whole. Although he supposed at least his embarrassment was proving to be a great distraction from the burning heat between his legs, and from the voice in the back of his mind telling him to climb on top of Keith and ride him until his body gave out.  
  


In time, Shiro relaxed again. He heard Keith get up and leave the room a few times, and eventually noticed that the light had been turned off. When he emerged from his nest, he saw a bottle of water and more Advil waiting on the bedside table for him.  
  


A soft snore coming from the other room indicated that Keith must have gone to sleep. Shiro decided he should try to do the same.    
  
  
With a lot of shuffling and rearranging, Shiro eventually settled into the nest and finally fell asleep, dreaming of dark hair and violet eyes.

 

* * *

  
  


The next morning, Shiro woke up to the smell of bacon. He groaned and wanted to just bury himself back into the makeshift nest, but his traitorous stomach rumbled loud enough to make him amend that plan.  
  


As he forced himself to get up, he felt every joint in his body crack. Somehow, every time he found himself coming out of a heat cycle, his joints always ached the way they did while running a high fever or working out too hard the day before.  
  


He was then suddenly slammed with his memories of the previous night, and it took everything in him not to just crawl back under the covers and die right there.  
  


He couldn’t believe he’d gone into heat in front of a near stranger and even  _ begged _ him for sex. God, he hated this part of being an omega. Most days he couldn’t care less, but the overwhelming humiliation of situations like these made Shiro wish that his secondary sex would just disappear.  
  


“Shiro?” he heard Keith call from the other side of the bedroom door. “Are you awake?”  
  


“Yeah,” he replied. There was no use hiding it.  
  


“Breakfast is ready whenever. I left fresh towels and a change of clothes for you in the bathroom if you want to take a shower.”  
  


“Thanks.”  
  


He waited until the sound of Keith’s footsteps disappeared down the hallway before poking his head outside the door. Once he was sure the coast was clear, he walked down the hall to make his way into the bathroom. The shower made him feel more human than he had in the past twenty-four hours, although the water still felt hotter than normal as his skin was still hyper-sensitive from his heat the night before. So he kept it as short as possible.    
  
  
After he killed the water and stepped out of the shower, he picked up the clothing Keith had laid out for him to examine them. He was not very confident that they would fit, as he was much larger than Keith, but he was pleasantly surprised to find that the simple sweatpants and t-shirt actually did.   
  
  


Shiro took a deep breath. Okay, he was clean and dressed. He couldn't stall much longer and figured that he had to go out and face Keith sometime. He just hoped that Keith understood and didn't make too much fun of him. Afterall, he was just a drunk omega at a party who had gone into heat, and Keith just an alpha who took pity on him and was even kind enough to take him home and protect him.   
  
  
When he finally emerged and made his way into the kitchen, Keith was already sitting at the table. He was drinking coffee from a comically huge mug while tapping away at his phone. The only thing he wore was a pair of low riding basketball shorts, and Shiro had to continually catch himself from staring unabashedly at the rather obvious outline of Keith's dick.   
  
  
"Morning." Keith nodded towards Shiro before looking back at his phone.   
  
  
Shiro grunted some greeting in response and set to work on piling the available bacon and eggs on his plate. He eyed the coffee longingly, but decided to first scarf down some food and then return to the caffeine nectar once he had something to coat his stomach.    
  
  
He ate quickly, and neither he nor Keith offered to fill the silence that had fallen over them. And Shiro was perfectly fine with that if he was being honest. At the moment, he had too many thoughts running through his mind, although the content of those worries from 24 hours ago had changed so drastically that he mentally chuckled at the idea.   
  
  
"Something funny?" Keith asked.   
  
  
Shit. Shiro must have actually laughed.   
  
  
"Uh, no. Sorry. Just thought of something." Shiro knew he was blushing but refused to acknowledge it.   
  
  
Keith shrugged and went back to his coffee.   
  
  
Shit, shit, shit. Shiro was chiding himself. This morning was getting more and more awkward and he had no idea how to salvage it.   
  
  
Keith must have sensed his discomfort because he suddenly spoke up.   
  
  
"So, do you want to talk about what happened last night?"   
  
  
Shiro instantly choked on the piece of bacon he had been cramming in his mouth at that moment.   
  
  
"Do I have a choice?" He finally spluttered out around his coughing.   
  
  
Keith paused, seeming to mull over his words before proceeding. "Look, I know things got, uhh, out of hand last night. Obviously, you going into heat was kind of a freak thing given we had just met. But I hope you don't think that I took advantage of you in any way--"   
  
  
"Keith." Shiro interrupted him. "How in the hell could you think you took advantage of me? You took me home and built me a nest and kept me safe from the other douchebag alphas at the party. They would have taken me into an upstairs room and raped me if you hadn’t done that. If anything, I should be apologizing to you for coming onto you when I wasn't myself."   
  
  
They stared at each other for a few seconds, then both immediately burst into laughter. Somehow, realizing that they had each thought that they were at fault seemed oddly hilarious. But Shiro was glad that they had spoken about it. Everything suddenly seemed a bit lighter.   
  
  
"Well, thank you. For everything." Shiro was finally relaxed for the first time since he woke up.  
  


“Of course. Pidge and Matt would kick my ass if I let anything happen to you.” Keith sounded like he was joking but they both knew that statement was true.  
  


After that, they fell into relaxed banter as they ate their way through breakfast and each downed several cups of coffee. Shiro felt like he had known Keith for years rather than hours, and found himself opening up to Keith more than he ever had with another person. It was strange, but also rather nice at the same time.  
  


Shiro finally got his shit together and got ready to leave. As he was promising to wash the clothes Keith leant him, Keith held out his hand and asked for his phone.   
  
  
“Why?” Shiro asked dumbly.   
  
  
Keith actually rolled his eyes at the question. “I want to give you my number, dumbass.”  
  


“Oh,” Shiro was embarrassed that he hadn’t realized that and fumbled his phone to Keith.  
  


After punching several keys at rapid speed, Keith handed the phone back to Shiro. “There. I expect you to call me.”    
  
  
Shiro knew it was a joke but rolled his eyes anyway while Keith snickered and shoved him playfully.   
  
  
After they said goodbye and Shiro started walking back to his apartment, he was slammed with a harsh realization: he really wanted to see Keith again.   
  
  
He liked an alpha.  
  
  
Fuck.

 

  
  


 


	2. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the aftermath of the party, Shiro is reeling and deciding what he wants to do moving forward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn, this took longer to update than I thought! Sorry still no sex in this chapter, but I promise you'll get all the filthy omegaverse sex you want next chapter! *eyes emoji*
> 
> Special shout out as always to Voxane, crazyhomoinspace, thoughtsappear, copperwings, softieghost, and Ash for listening to me scream and moan about writing the entire process!

The walk back to his apartment was a blur, but Shiro was too lost in his thoughts to care. He’d been grateful to realize Keith lived in a familiar area, so he took the twenty-minute walk back to think about how he was supposed to move forward from the previous night rather than focusing on where he was going.   
  
  
He was so lost in his thoughts, though, that he’d completely forgotten the minor detail that was his roommate.  
  
  
When Shiro came through the front door, he heard Matt’s shrill screech from the other room, “Takashi, you son of a bitch!  _ Where the fuck were you?! _ ”  
  


Shiro blinked dumbly as Matt came flying out of the kitchen, eyes red from lack of sleep and a look on his face of utter relief and terror all rolled into one. He had no idea what Matt’s problem was, after all, he’d texted Matt and Allura last night to let them that he and Keith had left the party…  
  


“Oh shit,” Shiro muttered as he scrambled for his phone.  
  
  
When he pulled open his messages, he realized that he’d never actually hit ‘send’ on his message to the group chat. Even more than that, his phone had died sometime during the night and he’d forgotten to charge it, so he was sure there was a slew of texts and voicemails waiting for him once he got it plugged in.  
  


“Fuck, Matt, I’m so sorry!” Guilt stabbed Shiro in the gut. “I really thought I had texted you.”  
  
  
Matt looked torn between wanting to punch Shiro and hug him. “Shiro, you beautiful, dumb brute. You scared the ever-loving shit out of Allura and me! We had no idea where you went! Allura said she’d smelled you go into heat and then--nothing. We were worried some alpha had taken you back to their place and tried to mark you--or worse.”  
  
  
Shiro didn’t know what to say. Not only had he disappeared without telling his friends where he was going, he’d let them think all night that something horrible had happened to him when it was exactly the opposite.  
  


“Well, where the fuck were you?” Matt finally asked, the tension just slightly leaving his body now that Shiro was home safe.

  
“I…” Shiro started to talk, but hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should admit who he was with. But after a second he decided that he’d caused enough problems for one day, and went ahead and told Matt everything that had happened.  
  


“Wait, wait, wait,” Matt shook his head and made Shiro pause for a second. “You were with Keith? My sister’s friend?”  
  
  
“Yes,” Shiro stated this as firmly and succinctly as possible.  
  


“And you had sex with him?”  
  
  
“No.”  
  
  
“Okay.”  
  
  
And just like that, Matt seemed satisfied with Shiro’s story. He was still furious with him for forgetting to text the group, but he was happy that Shiro was safe and had never been in any danger.  
  
  
With an exhausted sigh, Matt announced he was going to get some sleep before work.  
  
As he was walking into his room, he stopped and said to Shiro, “You get to call Allura and explain this.”  
  
Matt slammed his bedroom door in Shiro’s face and it took him a minute to realize that Allura was probably about to call the police. So he braced himself as he pulled out his phone and selected her name in his contacts list.  
  
  
“Hey, Allura? Yeah, I’m so, so sorry…”  
  


 

* * *

 

 

Shiro went about the next several days as he always had. He got up, went to class, then went to work, came home and did homework, slept. Repeat every Goddamn day.  
  
  
His conversation with Allura after his night with Keith had been rough, to put it lightly. He knew he deserved every single insult and swear thrown at him, but he felt it was a bit redundant after the first ten minutes. He left her with a thousand apologies and a promise to get dinner late that week, which seemed to be enough to calm her temporarily.  
  
  
But the one thing that had changed about his daily routine were his constant, intrusive thoughts about Keith. Shiro couldn’t make a drink at work without remembering that Keith liked his coffee black, which led him to think about how black Keith’s hair was and how it offset the intense violet of his eyes…  
  
  
Shiro realized belatedly that Matt was yelling at him and when he looked down, it was because he had overfilled the cup and spilled coffee all over the counter. With a yelp and a few curses, Shiro cleaned the mess up and gave the customer their drink on the house to make up for the scene.  
  
  
Matt was shaking his head in a combination of disgust and concern when Shiro moved past him to reorganize the pastry counter.  
  
  
“What is up with you today?” Matt asked.  
  
  
Shiro shrugged, too embarrassed to admit that he’d totally fucked up the order because he was daydreaming about Keith. “Just out of it, I guess.”  
  
  
He swore he could _hear_ Matt rolling his eyes behind Shiro’s back. “Well, that’s obvious.”  
  
  
Years of living and working with Matt had taught Shiro precisely when to pick his battles with his best friend, and he very quickly decided this was not one of them. So he ignored Matt and went about work as usual.  
  
  
He just wished that he could figure out a way to summon the courage and text Keith. Since he’d been too flustered to give his number to Keith before leaving, he knew the ball was entirely in his court. As much as he wanted to talk to him, part of Shiro was still terrified at the idea that he was actually crushing on an alpha.  
  
  
"Shiro." Matt's voice was cutting through his thoughts again.   
  
  
"Yeah?" Shiro replied as he tried to busy himself with some menial cleaning work. Maybe if he kept himself occupied, his mind couldn't catch up with his thoughts and he'd finally drown them.  
  
  
"You've been acting weird ever since the party. Are you sure nothing happened between you and Keith?" Matt's voice softened like he expected that Shiro had been lying about everything.  
  
  
"What? No, Matt. I've told you a hundred times by now he was actually super sweet and did absolutely nothing wrong."   
  
  
Matt hummed in response but didn't say anything. "Katie keeps asking about you two."  
  
  
"Okay?" Shiro raised an eyebrow, not really understanding how that was relevant to their conversation.  
  
  
He got a shrug in response. "Just saying if you're this hung up on him, I think you should text the guy. Katie said he keeps asking about you and is pretty sure he likes you too.”  
  
  
“Can we please drop this?” Shiro growled. He was tired of beating the subject to death.  
  


Matt held up his hands in mock surrender. “Fine. But we’re talking about it eventually.”   
  
  
Shiro spent the rest of his shift focusing on his work and trying to avoid any conversation about Keith, the party, or anything that wasn’t related to coffee beans and cleaning duties.   
  
  
Once he was clocked out, the first thing Shiro did was head straight to the library on campus. He had a midterm coming up and if he were to have any hope of getting into the graduate program with Matt and Allura next year then he needed to pass with flying colors.  
  
  
He found himself a quiet corner of the library that was mostly unoccupied, a small miracle in itself, and got to work booting up his laptop and spreading his notes around himself on the table.   
  
  
About twenty minutes in he'd found his groove and was part way through solving his physics equations when he heard his phone start buzzing. He ignored it at first, figuring it was just Matt trying to convince him to split a pizza later for dinner. But when it continued to buzz several more times, Shiro let out a defeated groan and unlocked his phone.   
  
  
“God, what the fuck do you  _ want _ Matt?” He grumbled.   
  
  
To his complete shock, there were three new messages from Keith.  
  
  
**_Keith [7:35 PM]:_ ** Hey, how are you? Haven't heard from you so I got your number from Pidge. Hope that's alright.   
**_Keith [7:36 PM]:_ ** I hope I didn't upset you in any way. I really would like to see you again, maybe grab dinner or drinks.   
**_Keith [7:41 PM]:_ ** Let me know if you're interested. Have a great night.   
  
  
Unsure of how to respond, Shiro put his phone down and decided to go back to studying for a bit, figuring that he’d come up with a response later. He needed to focus on this midterm and decided all personal problems could wait until later. And maybe by then he could think of a response that wouldn’t come across as weak and pathetic as he knew it was going to be.

  
He was mostly through a particularly complicated practice problem when his phone buzzed again. This time it was Pidge, so with a resigned sigh, he picked up the phone since he knew she would be relentless if he didn’t answer.  
  
  
 ** _Pigeon [8:03 PM]:_** _Gave Keith your number. He keeps asking about you. Please text him, I’m tired of listening to him whine about it._ _  
_ _  
  
_Shiro took a deep breath. Okay, she was just trying to help. He knew Pidge could be every bit as annoying as her brother when it came to getting something she wanted, but he was going to have to remember none of this was her fault.  
  
  
 ** _Me [8:05 PM]:_** _Yeah that’s fine.  
  
  
_ He’d barely hit ‘send’ before she replied  
  
  
 ** _Pigeon [8:05 PM]:_** _So you’ll call him?_  
 ** _Me [8:06 PM]:_** _idk yet.  
_ ** _Pigeon [8:07 PM]:_** _For fuck’s sake, Shirogane.  
_ ** _Me [8:10 PM]:_** _Who taught you to speak that way?_ _  
_ ** _Pigeon [8:10 PM]:_** _You and my brother, dumbass.  
  
  
_ He chuckled at that. But he also knew she was right and that he was going to have to reply to Keith at some point.

  
**_Me [8:12 PM]:_** _Okay. I’ll text him when I’m done studying._ _  
_ ** _Pigeon [8:12 PM]:_** _That better be a promise. I’m going to ask him to make sure you do.  
_ ** _Me: [8:20 PM]:_** _Fine.  
  
_ He supposed there was no going back now.  
  
  
So with a determined sigh, he pulled up Keith’s message and sent his reply.  
  


**_Me [8:25 PM]:_ ** _ Hey. I’m really sorry I didn’t text you until now. You’ve done nothing wrong, I just got busy.  
_ **_Me [8:25 PM]:_ ** _ But dinner sounds great! I’m free any time this weekend.  
  
_

Keith didn’t reply right away. And as much as it was tormenting Shiro to wait for an answer, he knew he deserved this after not calling Keith for the last week. So he put his phone away and tried to keep himself distracted by continuing to study while he waited.  
  
  
Too bad he was so jittery that the studying lasted all of ten minutes before he decided he should give up for the night. Just as he finished packing all of his things into his backpack, he heard his phone buzzing and practically dove for it.   
  
  
Keith had finally answered. And not only was he available for dinner, he wanted to hang out _right now_ if Shiro was free.  
  
  
Shiro didn’t even think twice before firing off a text that said yes, he would very much like to hang out right now.

  
  


* * *

  
  


The irony of agreeing to meet Keith for coffee was not lost on Shiro as he walked through the door to a 24-hour cafe downtown. He was grateful that his coffee shop of employment was closed, not that he would have agreed to meet there anyway. But here he was at almost midnight on a Wednesday, walking to meet an alpha he had just met the previous week _at a coffee shop he worked at_.  
  
  
Shiro’s life was officially a giant inception of coffee and Keith, and he wasn’t sure if it was exciting or terrifying.  
  
  
“Shiro!” Keith was calling and waving Shiro over to him.  
  
The table Keith had snagged was in the far corner of the restaurant, which Shiro was fine with. Normally it wouldn’t be so crowded this late at night, but with midterms being the following week, students were desperate for a place to study after the library closed for the night.   
  
  
“Hey.” Shiro greeted as he sat down in the chair across from Keith.  
  
  
“Hey,” Keith nodded in his direction. “I realize now that asking you to coffee when you work at a coffee shop was probably a stupid idea--”  
  
  
Shiro held up a hand to cut Keith off. “Don’t worry about it. I love coffee. So long as we don’t go to The Galra Perk, I’m good.”  
  
  
Keith raised an eyebrow at that. “The Galra Perk? But you work at Main Street Cafe.”  
  
  
The laugh Shiro let out at that comment was the most genuine laugh he’d felt in days. “Yes, but our coffee is at least good. Galra’s sucks.”  
  
  
That earned him a small smirk from Keith. “Noted.”  
  
  
Their waiter came up to their table at that point, so Shiro gave his order, noting Keith already had his coffee. Once the waiter left, they sat in silence for a few moments, Shiro trying to gather his thoughts. When he spoke, it was slow and almost tentative, like he was wading through a cornfield of thoughts.  
  
  
“I’m sorry I didn’t call or text.” Shiro started, but Keith was the one to hold up his hand this time.  
  
  
“Don’t worry about it. It was...an odd situation.”  
  
  
Shiro was relieved to hear that Keith wasn’t upset. Somehow it made the situation a little less awkward.  
  
  
“Thanks,” Shiro smiled at Keith.  
  
  
“Anyway, are you free Friday? I was thinking of maybe grabbing dinner...”  
  
  
Shiro barely heard anything Keith said after that, he was so enamored with the sound of his voice. And yet somehow at the end of it, he walked out with a date for that Friday night with one Keith Kogane.

 

* * *

  
  
  


Shiro was officially _freaking out_.  
  
  
He swore he blinked and it was suddenly Friday. It was the day of his dinner date with Keith and he had the sudden realization that he hadn’t been on an actual date in several years. He was equal parts excited and equal parts worried that everything was going to go to shit.  
  
  
Poor Matt had to listen to his meltdown most of the day (neither of them had classes on Friday) and so he had called in reinforcements in the form of Allura and her boyfriend Lotor.  
  
  
“Shiro, it’s a date, not a life sentence,” Allura sighed and stared at him from over the rim of her wine glass.  
  
  
The indignant noise Shiro made had Matt chuckling and Allura rolling her eyes.  
  
  
“Nonsense, Keith could very well be The One,” Lotor smirked from the other side of the kitchen island he, Allura, and Matt were sitting at. “And first dates always set the tone for the rest of the relationship.”  
  
  
Allura leveled Lotor with a stern glare, clearly mouthing ‘ _you’re not helping_ ’ even though she knew Shiro could see the entire scene happening.  
  
  
He finally decided to leave his friends in the kitchen and disappeared back into his bedroom to change his outfit one last time. He ended up settling on a pair of dark wash jeans and a black button-down shirt. It seemed to be a good balance of casual and semi-dressy so he figured that was as good as it was going to get for his outfit.  
  
  
When he returned to the kitchen, Allura and Lotor were arguing about something in the living room, a ways off from everyone else. Shiro looked to Matt for an answer, but all he got was a shrug and a raised glass in a mock toast.   
  
  
Allura and Lotor’s relationship was rocky on their best days, so Shiro knew better by now than to get involved.  
  
  
Shiro cleared his throat and got the desired response as Allura and Lotor broke away from their heated argument and looked back at him.   
  
  
“That outfit is perfect!” Allura beamed at him. “Keith won’t know what hit him.”  
  
  
“If things go right? Keith will be hitting that by the end of the night anyway.” Matt smirked and just barely ducked in time as Allura reached over to smack him on the shoulder.  
  
  
Lotor chuckled and opened the refrigerator to free a beer from its chilled prison, not even bothering to ask either of the apartment’s residents if they were okay with him drinking all of their alcohol. Matt and Shiro exchanged looks behind his back but Allura made sure to get a jab in about how Lotor liked to help himself to other people’s things.  
  
  
Shiro blatantly ignored the two of them as they erupted into yet another argument regarding habits the other one had that drove them mad. He turned to Matt and asked the question that had been hanging heavy on his mind all day: “Tell me this is going to go well and I’m not making a mistake.”  
  
  
Matt laughed out loud at that. “My dude, Keith is a great guy. If he wasn’t, Katie wouldn’t be friends with him.”  
  
  
“True,” Shiro mused. He knew Pidge was historically a pretty decent judge of character. But it did nothing to calm his anxiety, which was going to be the case for the entire time leading up to this date. “Well, I’m going to head out.”  
  
  
He earned himself a clap on the back from Matt as he reached for his jacket. “Good luck, man. Text an SOS if you need me to call you with a fake emergency.”  
  
  
“Thanks, Dad.” Shiro rolled his eyes but appreciated the sentiment. “I’ll even be home before midnight.”  
  
  
“No, you won’t!” Matt called behind him, but it didn’t matter because he allowed the door to just slam shut in his roommate’s face as he left the apartment.  
  


There may have been some muffled calls of encouragement from Allura and Lotor on his way out, but he decided it wasn’t worth trying to decipher them.

  
Keith had asked to meet at Shiro’s, but he declined knowing how nosy his friends would be. So instead they were meeting on neutral ground in front of the campus library.  
  
  
Unsurprisingly Keith was already waiting for him when he arrived. He was parked in front of the main entrance, leaning against a sleek red Ducati, one leather boot-clad foot propped against the side while he chewed on his lower lip. Something about realizing Keith was nervous too was surprising to Shiro, but it also brought a certain layer of comfort to know that even a cool, collected alpha like Keith could be, well, human.

  
He could see Keith visibly relax when they made eye contact. “Hey!” he called, the smile on his face infectious.

  
“Hey,” Shiro greeted back.

  
They stood there awkwardly for a moment before Keith tossed him a helmet. “Put that on.”

  
Shiro obeyed, but as he climbed on the back of the bike asked Keith where they were going.   
  
  
Keith merely looked back over his shoulder with a shit-eating grin. “It’s a surprise!”

  
“That sounds ominous,” Shiro mumbled, but his voice was drowned after that by the roar of the motorcycle’s engine.

  
The ride wasn’t long, but maybe Shiro wasn’t paying attention either. He admitted to being completely entranced by the feel of Keith’s broad shoulders pressed against his front, and it took everything in Shiro not to bury his face in Keith’s back or to lean forward and start kissing his neck. God, he hoped that they would reach the point where scenting each other wouldn’t be considered creepy anymore.  
  
  
He immediately suppressed that thought and hoped Keith couldn’t smell the change in his pheromones with his heightened alpha senses. But if Keith noticed anything, he was nice enough not to comment.

  
It seemed all too soon that Keith was killing the engine and telling Shiro that they were at their destination. To his surprise, they were kind of in the middle of nowhere. It was a grassy field with a small hill in the center of it, which Keith was already walking towards. He must have noticed that Shiro wasn’t behind him because he stopped long enough to look at him and ask if he was coming.  
  
Shiro followed behind Keith but blurted out before he could think about it, “Keith, where are we?”  
  
  
What he didn’t say out loud was _so much for dinner._ Shiro was pretty hungry but didn’t want to sound ungrateful though, so he kept his mouth shut.

  
Keith didn’t answer until they reached the top of the hill and he turned back to face Shiro. “We’re in my favorite place.”

  
“Oh,” Shiro responded when Keith didn’t elaborate, unsure of what else to say.

  
Keith must have realized that he should explain because he continued after a brief but awkward silence. “Look, you know I’m an astrophysics major. So by definition I’m kind of obsessed with space. I figured that out early and when I was a kid, my dad took me here at night and claimed it was the best place in town to look at the stars.”  
  
  
He paused for a second, a suddenly sad smile on his face. “He was right. And after he passed, this place became one of the only ways I could still feel connected to him.”  
  
  
“I’m so sorry about your dad, Keith.” Shiro murmured so low he wasn’t sure if Keith even heard him at first.

  
“Thanks,” Keith replied. “But tonight isn’t about the past.”

  
Shiro nodded and closed the distance between Keith and himself. He wanted to reach out and hug Keith, but hesitated, unsure if Keith even wanted that. So when he realized his hand was hovering in an awkward position somewhere between reaching for a hug and...just not, he let the hand drop to his side.  
  
  
Instead, Shiro started talking about the stars and what he was learning in his aerospace engineering courses. It was a common ground they both had, so he hoped that by delving into a different topic, Keith would forget about his dad for a bit and just enjoy being in someone else’s company.  
  


He was happy with how much ease he and Keith fell into conversation. No matter how bizarre their whole situation had been up until that point, somehow they were able to fit into each other’s very being without even trying. The discussion just flowed so naturally that Shiro didn’t even realize how cold he was getting until he noticed Keith visibly shiver.  
  
“Maybe we should find somewhere warmer?” Shiro suggested, still not sure if he should offer to embrace Keith with the excuse for more body heat.  
  
  
“Yeah,” Keith agreed. “I actually got us dinner reservations so we should probably get going now.”  
  
  
Shiro was surprised that Keith had planned this out enough to get reservations. He thought it was just going to be a laid-back thing from the way the tone had been set, but maybe he was wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time Keith had done something completely unexpected that ended up being a great thing.  
  


He didn’t give himself a chance to question it as he jumped behind Keith again on his motorcycle.

  
  


* * *

  
  


The restaurant they pulled into was not was Shiro had expected--but then again, he was quickly learning that Keith was unpredictable in all the best ways possible. 

  
Keith hadn’t taken him somewhere fancy, or even just slightly more sophisticated than a run of the mill restaurant. Rather, Keith had taken him to a strip mall and led him into a little hole in the wall place. In fact, Shiro realized that he passed by this particular strip mall almost every day and yet had no idea that there was a restaurant in there.  
  


Inside quickly revealed that it was a Cajun restaurant called Marmora Gras House. Although Shiro had never personally tried Cajun food before, the smell of the spices and meats simmering in the kitchen hit him and instantly made his mouth water.  
  
  
“Hey, Keith! Who’s the friend?” a man from the register was waving at them.

  
“Hey, Kolivan! This is, Shiro!” Keith responded with the ease of someone who clearly knew the staff of the place.  
  


Kolivan told them to sit wherever they wanted and Keith found them a small booth tucked into the corner of the restaurant, away from the crowds and noisy kitchen. Shiro couldn’t help but wonder about the gaudy decorations that basically looked like a Mardis Gras parade had thrown up all over the walls. Colorful beads, masks, and fleur-de-lis prints covered every square inch of available surface, and he even noticed a few pinnies with the LSU logo and tiger mascot on them. He didn’t think it was possible to make the New Orleans theme any clearer.  
  


When a bored looking waitress who introduced herself as Zethrid came over, Keith handed Shiro the menu she offered and didn’t even bother opening his, Shiro noticed. He guessed Keith was here a lot from what he had observed, so he asked him what he’d recommend to a newbie to Cajun food.

  
Keith laughed and suggested he try the jambalaya and either gumbo or chicken etouffee as they were the most standard dishes and pretty popular. Shiro agreed and listened with rapt fascination as Keith ordered foods with names he couldn’t even begin to pronounce--did he just order a ‘mock shoe’? He hoped that he’d heard that wrong. Oh, Keith was also ordering something alligator meat in it. That should be interesting.  
  


But Zethrid must have understood because she nodded as she took the order. When she grabbed their menus and walked away, Keith winked at Shiro. “The food here is amazing, I promise.”   
  
  
“You seem to know this place well,” Shiro stated matter-of-factly.

  
“Yeah, uh,” Keith was suddenly blushing and scratching at the back of his head. “My mom kinda started this place years ago with my dad. After he died she stepped back from managing it but still owns it technically. Kolivan is my uncle and runs it now.”  
  


Shiro raised an eyebrow at this information. “Brought me to meet the family on the first date?”   
  
  
The look of horror on Keith’s face at that realization was so priceless that Shiro burst out laughing before he could stop himself. “Oh god, no, that wasn’t what I meant--”  
  


“Keith! It’s fine, really,” Shiro gasped through his laughter as he tried to catch his breath. “It’s really sweet, actually. I’m glad you have so much pride in the family business.”

  
That seemed to help Keith relax a bit as they eased back into casual conversation.

  
The food arrived quickly and without much fanfare, just piles of meat, rice, and vegetables on plain white plates. Shiro noticed Keith was waiting for him to start eating first, so Shiro grabbed his fork and dug in. (He was also grateful that there were no shoes on Keith’s plate, but rather a dish full of corn and other vegetables).

  
“How is it?” Keith asked, looking like a puppy waiting for praise. Shiro thought it was adorable how excited Keith was about it.

  
“Delicious!” Shiro answered honestly.

  
“Good, I’m glad.” Keith looked so happy that Shiro couldn’t help but feel some of it radiating off of him.

  
The food was truly some of the best Shiro had ever had, and he was embarrassed by how quickly he inhaled it. But Keith didn’t seem to mind and they washed their food down with several beers, leaving them both relaxed and very happy.

  
By the time the meal was finished, Shiro was hoping the night wasn’t over. He was having such a great time with Keith that he was shocked by how much he wanted the date to keep going. He’d never felt like that on a first date and it was as exciting as it was terrifying to him.  
  
  
After Keith had paid and said goodbye to Kolivan, they walked back towards where he’d parked the motorcycle. Shiro began racking his brain for ways to stretch out the date. He was wondering if just flat out asking Keith to come back to his place would be too forward, but he didn’t have much time to think about it as Keith interrupted his thoughts.  
  
  
“Hey, Shiro?”  
  
  
Shiro turned, his attention fully focused on Keith. “Yeah?”  
  


They were back at the motorcycle and Keith was fidgeting. He looked about as nervous as Shiro felt, and he really hoped that meant the night was going where he hoped it was.  
  
  
After a pause, “May I--may I kiss you?”  
  
Shiro smiled so wide he was sure he’d be feeling it in his cheeks the next day. “God, yes.”

  
He felt Keith’s hands on his cheeks as he pulled him to close the distance between them. They melted into each other, lips pliant and bodies fitting together like puzzle pieces. It was probably weird to Keith, being an alpha and having to reach up to kiss Shiro, but he doubted either of them cared. In fact, Shiro was still in shock that he was quickly falling for an alpha at all, let alone enjoying making out with one on the sidewalk.  
  


“Do you want to come back to my place?” Shiro whispered against Keith’s lips as they pulled apart to catch their breath.  
  


“Don’t you live with Matt?”  
  


“Oh, uh, yeah.”

  
“Let’s go back to my place then. Nobody to interrupt us.”

  
Shiro didn’t even hesitate for a second when he agreed. Next thing he knew they were jumping on Keith’s motorcycle and speeding back towards his apartment.  
  
  
He really hoped that things went _very_ differently this time around.

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come scream at me on [Tumblr](http://theinsanefox.tumblr.com) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/FoxyLovesFandom)!


	3. Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro had no idea how Keith was even able to get the key in the lock of his front door long enough for them to make it back inside. They’d barely made it off the motorcycle before they were kissing sloppily again, and Keith had slammed Shiro up against the outside wall of his building. Shiro groaned and pressed himself as close to Keith as they could manage, then pulled away and began to nuzzle at Keith’s throat before playfully nipping at it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it! We've finally reached the end!
> 
> Sorry that I was so long between updates--Life has been kicking my ass. I'm moving, job is killing me. etc. etc. 
> 
> I also apologize that this chapter is un-beta'd. I just didn't have it in me to ask my usual betas to help with this piece since I never really wrote it to be my best work.
> 
> Anyway, I do have an idea for a bonus chapter later on. I just don't know when I'll get to it with some other projects that are needing my attention for the time being.
> 
> Thank you so much for sticking with me this whole time!!! As always, come scream at me on [Tumblr](http://theinsanefox.tumblr.com) or [Twitter](https://twitter.com/FoxyLovesFandom)!

Shiro had no idea how Keith was even able to get the key in the lock of his front door long enough for them to make it back inside. They’d barely made it off the motorcycle before they were kissing sloppily again, and Keith had slammed Shiro up against the outside wall of his building. Shiro groaned and pressed himself as close to Keith as they could manage, then pulled away and began to nuzzle at Keith’s throat before playfully nipping at it. 

 

“Shiro,” Keith growled in warning, fumbling with the key to his front door as he struggled to open it. 

 

He ended up needing to pry himself away from Shiro so that he could jiggle the handle and get them inside. Shiro whined at the loss of contact, but as soon as Keith had ushered him into the apartment, he pulled Shiro down on the couch and sat with Shiro straddling him.

 

Shiro dove in again but Keith grabbed his shoulders and pushed him back slightly. “Hey, hold on a second.”

 

Surprised, Shiro leaned back. He wasn’t sure what made Keith want to stop suddenly.

 

“Do you want this?” Keith asked.

 

“Of course I do,” Shiro replied, confused by the question.

 

Keith sighed and took a second to collect his thoughts before he continued. “No, I mean, are you sure you want to have sex? Last time we were in this situation it wasn’t very uh--conducive to consent. I just want to make sure that we’re on the same page here.”

  
Oh.  _ Oh. _

 

“Keith,” Shiro grabbed Keith’s chin and tilted it up so that he was looking Shiro in the eye. “Last time was a freak thing. But listen to me, I  _ want _ to have sex with you. I’m not in heat, I’m just horny and on a date with an amazing, hot guy. And I really like you. So if you’re willing, I’m more than willing.”   
  
Violet eyes blinked at him as a moment of silence passed over them, as if Keith were really registering what Shiro had just said. Then he was smiling and pulling Shiro down so that their lips met in a searing kiss.

 

They started off lazy this time, taking a few minutes to build up the intensity. By the time Shiro was grinding into Keith’s lap, he could feel Keith’s small gasps and moans against his mouth as they shamelessly pawed at each other. 

 

Keith broke away from his lips and began mouthing along Shiro’s neck. As Shiro squirmed and whined for more contact, he heard Keith growl, “Bed,” before grabbing Shiro under the thighs and lifting him up to begin walking towards the bedroom.

 

Thankfully the walk was short, and Keith dropped Shiro on the bed unceremoniously. They stayed apart long enough to each remove their shirts, but then Keith was on him again, working at the button of his jeans. 

 

“Fuck, you’re so wet,” Keith moaned as he slid his hand into Shiro’s boxers and teased his entrance.

 

“Hnng,” Shiro made an incoherent noise, bucking his hips up into Keith’s probing fingers.

 

“We’ll take care of that shortly,” Keith chuckled, gently biting at the nape of Shiro’s neck. “First, let’s get out of these clothes.”

 

At that, Keith pulled Shiro’s pants and boxers down the rest of the way, tossing them off the side of the bed, then leaned back on his heels to look down at Shiro. Shiro could only imagine what he looked like to Keith in that moment--rock hard and squirming, slick shining between his legs in the dim light. He saw Keith’s eyes roam over him appreciatively and felt his cock twitch.

 

“Keith, please,” He was already begging.

 

“Please what, baby?” Keith's feigned innocence was so played up that he looked like a grinning devil.

 

Shiro exhaled and counted to three in the back of his mind. They’d barely started and he was already falling apart--he needed to hang on a little longer.

  
But fuck it, he was also horny as hell and wanted nothing more than for Keith to pin him down and fuck him hard until he couldn’t remember his own name.

 

“Please fuck me,” He groaned, rolling his hips at Keith in hope of getting his desperation across.

 

Keith finally took the hint and removed his own pants before leaning back over Shiro to start kissing and licking his way down his abdomen.

 

When he reached Shiro’s cock, Keith looked up and waited for the nod of approval from Shiro before taking the tip into his mouth.

 

“Fuck!” Shiro keened as Keith swirled his tongue around the head.

 

That earned him a hum of approval from Keith as he slid his mouth down and took as much of Shiro’s cock as he could.

 

Shiro tried not to buck up, but it was a struggle to hold his hips still. Even more so when Keith reached down and slipped a finger into his entrance, gently teasing while he bobbed his head up and down his length. 

 

Too soon he felt the familiar heat coiling in his balls. He tapped Keith on the shoulder, trying to warn him, but Keith just smirked and took him all in his mouth, eagerly swallowing as Shiro came deep in his throat.

 

Keith grinned as he pulled off and licked cum from his lips. “You taste good.”

  
Shiro whined and tried to sit up, but Keith gently pushed him back down. 

 

“Do you want me to take care of you?” Shiro was able to gasp out as he felt Keith’s erection rub against his thigh.

 

“Isn’t that what the next part is for?” Keith meant for it to sound cocky, but his goofy grin gave it away and he and Shiro both fell into a fit of laughter for a second before Keith repositioned himself on top of Shiro. 

 

“You ready?” He asked, taking a second to roll a condom on before lining himself up with Shiro’s entrance and using some of the slick to lube himself up.

 

“ _ Yes _ ,” Shiro practically growled.

 

When Keith finally entered Shiro, both of them had to take a second to keep from crying out their pleasure.

  
Shiro was grateful that Keith allowed him a minute to adjust to the intrusion, especially given how oversensitive he was after his orgasm. Even though Shiro was overall bigger than Keith, it didn’t change that Keith’s cock was an alpha’s-and therefore much bigger than average.

  
“You doing okay, baby?” Keith asked, nuzzling at Shiro’s scent glands in his neck.

 

“I--yeah. I’m great. Wait, are you scenting me?”   
  


A light chuckle above him, followed by a playful nip on the nape of his neck. “Yeah. But it worked to distract you, didn’t it?”

  
Oh. It had.

 

Shiro wiggled his hips experimentally, finding he had relaxed enough that the initial stretch and burn was already giving way to a pleasurable feeling. Shit, he was already getting hard again. Keith really knew how to play him like a fiddle.

 

“I’m ready,” he breathed, leaning up to capture Keith’s lips with his own.

 

He felt Keith melt into the kiss for a moment, taking his time before he rolled his hips in a shallow thrust. Shiro met him with his own snap of the hips, keening to the rhythm of their moving bodies.

 

They set a quick and brutal pace, the obscene squelching noises from Keith pounding into him somehow turning Shiro on more and more. It didn’t take long until he was fully hard again and so reached between them to start jerking himself in time with Keith’s movements. He winced when he felt the rough tug of his bare hand over his dick, so he reached between his legs and swiped some slick from himself to help lubricate his hand.

 

Keith realized what was happening and swatted Shiro’s hand away to replace it with his own.

 

“Fuck, Keith, I’m not going to last,” Shiro was panting, trying to hold on as long as he could.

 

“Good,” Keith replied, breathing heavily with exertion but continuing to keep a steady pace. “Shit, I think I feel myself knotting.”

 

Shiro’s response was to wrap his legs around Keith’s waist and hold him there. “It’s okay. I want your knot.”   
  


Keith faltered for a second, but he quickly regained his composure and kept their rhythm going. A minute later, Shiro felt the tell-tale swelling at the point where Keith was seated deep within him. It somehow managed to make the pleasure much more intense, despite the distinct pain of his insides stretching to about their limits.

 

Above him, Keith was babbling, but somehow Shiro made out the warning that he was about to come. With a few more erratic thrusts, Keith was spilling inside Shiro with a loud grunt. Shiro followed moments later and then they both collapsed. 

 

They lay there for a while, Keith’s knot still swollen and unable to pull out, so Shiro was content to stay tangled up together and feel Keith’s hot breath tickling the fine hairs on neck; a stark contrast to the cooling sweat on their bodies that was beginning to make him shiver a bit.

 

“How are you feeling?” Keith asked although Shiro chuckled at the thick blanket of sleep that was clearly dragging him down.

 

“Amazing,” Shiro answered truthfully.

  
“Good.” Keith hummed while he placed a gentle kiss to Shiro’s collarbone. “Maybe next time I can mark you.”

 

Shiro hated to admit that he felt his dick twitch weakly at the idea. If he wasn’t so damn exhausted he’d probably beg Keith for the next round just for that.

 

“Please do that next time,” Shiro agreed before wrapping his arms tightly into Keith. “I’m so tired right now though.”

  
He felt the good-natured laugh rumble through Keith’s chest. “I know, just a few more minutes and--” 

  
Keith didn’t finish his sentence because his knot had finally gone down enough that he was able to slide out of Shiro. With a grunt, Keith lifted himself up into a sitting position and removed the condom. He tied it off and tossed it in the trash before getting up and disappearing into the bathroom for a few minutes. When he emerged, Shiro was dozing off on the bed but woke when he felt the wet washcloth wiping him down.

  
“Sorry.” Keith apologized, but Shiro smiled and pulled him down for a soft kiss.

 

“Thank you, Keith,” Shiro replied. 

 

After tossing the washcloth in his laundry hamper, Keith climbed back on the bed and pulled the covers up over their bodies. He then pulled Shiro into his chest and the two fell asleep curled around each other.  
  


* * *

 

 

After that night, Shiro found every free moment he had occupied by Keith. When he wasn’t in class, Keith was keeping him company while he studied in the library. And when he wasn’t working, he was almost always at Keith’s apartment. 

 

Keith had been over to his place a few times, but after Matt had walked in on them stroking each other off in the kitchen, it had been mutually agreed by all parties that they should stick with going to Keith’s. Matt, especially, after his melodramatic cries of “Seriously? Right in front of my salad!” (he had later texted Shiro that please, for the love of all that is holy, keep all sexual activity away from the coffee pot).

 

It wasn’t until several weeks later, while he was having dinner with Allura, that he was finally asked, “So are you and Keith dating now?”

 

Shiro choked comically on his water at that and started coughing and sputtering.

 

“I--don’t know, actually.” He finally coughed out.

 

Allura raised a suspicious eyebrow and fixed Shiro with a look. “How do you not know?”

  
Shiro at least had the wherewithal to look sheepish at the question. “I guess it just hasn’t come up in conversation yet.”

 

“Shiro,” Allura sighed, leaning back in her chair and rubbing a hand over her face dramatically. “I love you, but your communication skills leave much to be desired.”

 

It was Shiro’s turn to make a face at that comment. “I just kind of figured if Keith wanted to talk about it, he’d have brought it up by now.”

 

He didn’t even have to look up to know Allura was rolling her eyes into the next dimension. “Please talk to him. You two are hopeless.”

  
Shiro glared at the fries on his plate as dipped one in ketchup before taking a bite. He knew Allura was right. So far avoiding any kind of meaningful discussions had done nothing but inhibit his budding relationship with Keith. He was really tempted to make a snarky comment about how she was one to talk with that toxic relationship she kept dragging out with Lotor, but decided that was crossing a line. She was still his friend and he still loved her for it, even if she made bad choices regarding her love life.

  
“Okay.” He finally said. “I’ll talk with him.”

  
“Good,” Allura said it in that way she always did, making it sound like the discussion was final and there was no going back on it.

  
He watched her as she took a sip from her margarita, and wondered how he let her push him into these things. She caught him staring and flashed him a smug smile over the salted rim of her glass.

 

He was suddenly very tempted to ask Matt for advice because he was convinced it wouldn’t be nearly as painful a conversation as this one had been.

 

* * *

 

Keith honestly didn’t even know why he bothered ever trying to get any studying done with Lance, Pidge, and Hunk. They were all studying for different classes, they never stopped talking, and at the end of the day Keith always left the room feeling like he may as well have just spent the time slamming the textbook into his face for all he retained.

 

Somehow they had ended up settled in the living room of the small house Hunk and Lance rented a few blocks from campus. It was a very typical college home in that it was cramped and full of cheap, mismatched furniture that wobbled if you so much as sneezed in its general direction. The wallpaper was peeling and clearly straight out of the 70’s, and the wood floor was scratched to hell from years of students partying and doing God-knows-what-else in the house.

  
But the kitchen was adequate, and Hunk made sure to put it to use as often as possible. Cooking for his friends made him happy, and who were Keith and Pidge to deny a free meal when offered?

 

Although given that this particular meal came with a pounding headache, Keith was seriously second-guessing his idea to agree to the so-called “study session.”

 

“Keith, buddy, why so sour?” Lance asked from around a mouthful of the cookie he’d snagged the moment Hunk had pulled them from the oven.

 

“I’m not sour,” Keith snapped. “Just tired. And your voice isn’t helping.”

 

“Rude,” Lance said it without much conviction like he wasn’t really listening to him.

 

“Will the two of you shut up?” Pidge sighed over the screen of her laptop from her perch on the very worn-out couch. “I actually need to finish this project.”

  
“All work and no play makes Pidge a very boring person.” Lance sang the line as he sauntered over to the kitchen to try and sneak another cookie from the cooling rack. He just narrowly dodged a pen Pidge lobbed at the back of his head before reaching out to grab the nearest cookie. 

 

Hunk caught him in the act and slapped his hand with the spatula he was using. “Nuh-uh. Dinner first. Cookies later. I swear to God, it’s like living with a toddler.”

 

Lance pouted and slunk back over to where Keith and Pidge were clicking away on their laptops. All attempts to talk to Pidge were stopped by a flick to the ear and Keith would answer with nothing but noncommittal grunts.

 

Keith felt nothing but relief when Hunk announced the food was ready and they could start eating dinner. The only time the group was quiet was when they were eating or sleeping--and even then it was iffy. And yet sometime between the sound of forks clinking on ceramic plates, Lance spoke up again.

  
“So are you and Shiro an official thing now?”

  
Keith leveled Lance with the best glare he could muster. “Why would I tell you that?”   
  


Lance held his hands up in mock surrender. “I was just asking. You two have been spending a lot of time together.”   
  


Keith said nothing as he returned to his food, but Pidge interrupted. “Matt says he caught you two messing around in the kitchen.”

  
The howls of laughter that escaped from Lance and Hunk could probably be heard by all of the surrounding houses. Keith knew he was red as a beet but couldn’t tell if it was from embarrassment or anger.

 

“Will all of you just fucking leave me alone?” He growled.

 

“What’s the big deal?” Hunk asked him around a mouthful of food.

 

“Nothing.” Keith sighed. “I don’t know. I guess we just haven’t talked about where we stand yet. I know it’s more than just us messing around, but--”

  
“I’m going to cut you off right there, buddy,” Hunk interrupted. “You two like each other. Simple as that. Talk to him about it.”

 

Keith glared into his plate of spaghetti and wondered if he could ignite it on fire just by staring at it long enough. But unfortunately that plan didn’t work, so he had to say something instead.

 

“Yeah, fine. I’ll bring it up next time I see him.”

 

“Atta boy!” Lance crowed, slapping Keith on the back for good measure as he did so.

  
Keith told Lance to shut the fuck up.

 

God, he really needed some new friends.    
  
  


* * *

  
  


The next day, Shiro was in the lab working on a project for his advanced physics class when he heard his phone buzzing on the lab bench next to him. Looking down, he saw it was Keith and instantly smiled, as seeing that name on his phone had a tendency to do to him these days.

  
  
**_Keith [9:33 PM]:_ ** _ You free to hang out when you’re done there? _

**_Me [9:48 PM]:_ ** _ Of course. Anything for you, baby. ;) _ __  
__  
**_Keith [9:50 PM]:_ ** _ Gross. You’re such a sap.  _ __  


**_Me [9:51 PM]:_ ** _ Awww I’m just kidding! Come back!! _

  
  


Somehow the conversation ended with Shiro agreeing to meet Keith at his place after he finished up. He didn’t think anything of it and figured it would just be one of their standard Netflix and Chill sessions that ended up with them sucking each other off on the couch and eventually they’d pass out in Keith’s bed.

 

By the time Shiro was done in the lab and locking up for the night, his phone was buzzing again with a new notification. He assumed it was just Matt asking him to grab some beer or something on the way home, but instead it was Allura asking him if he’d talked to Keith yet.

  
With a melodramatic sigh, he rolled his eyes and replied  _ No, but I’m heading over there now so I’ll talk to him tonight _ .

  
Allura sent some snarky response and he just replied with the eye roll emoji before turning his phone on Do Not Disturb. 

 

He walked over to Keith’s on autopilot. They were long past the point of knocking on when they came over to each other’s places, so Shiro just let himself in with the spare key Keith had given him a couple of weeks ago. 

  
“Keith?” Shiro called out as he closed the door behind himself.

 

“In the bedroom!” Keith called from down the hall.

 

Shiro didn’t think anything of it as he followed Keith’s voice into the now familiar room. He’d spent so much time at Keith’s apartment by then that he knew the layout almost as well as his own home.

 

When he rounded the corner into the bedroom, he was not expecting the sight of Keith running around in an attempt to light a bunch of candles, wearing nothing but a pair of boxers. At one point, he slipped on a small pile of loose rose petals that were on the floor in a path leading to the bed.

 

Somehow the whole thing was cheesy and ridiculous and it caused Shiro to burst out laughing. He felt bad because Keith looked pretty put off by his reaction, but it was so unlike Keith and out of left field that Shiro’s brain had processed it in a way that was probably considered inappropriate given the circumstances.

 

“Keith, I’m sorry but what...is all of this?” Shiro finally gasped out as he calmed down and began to regain air.

 

Keith’s face turned a brilliant scarlet at the question, almost as red as the leather jacket he was always wearing. “Nothing I just--wanted to do something special for you tonight, was all.”

 

Shiro smiled at that, feeling his heart warm at the gesture. “Keith, I love it. But you don’t have to do anything special for me--I’m just happy to spend time with you.”

 

More blushing and averted eye contact at that, but Shiro didn’t miss the relieved smile on Keith’s face.

 

“Besides, we’ve already had sex. A lot. Is this really necessary to seduce me?” Shiro couldn’t help the jab but Keith knew he was joking.

 

“Well, that’s uh--kinda the point.” Keith looked like he was taking a deep breath before continuing his thoughts. “We’ve had a lot of sex. We also hang out all the time. I really like you, obviously as much more than just a friend, so I was just wondering: what are we?”

 

Shiro paused, taken aback slightly by the question. Given his earlier conversation with Allura, the timing of it all was eerie. 

  
But hell, now that the question was out in the open, Shiro decided to move forward since this was as good a time as any to discuss it, it seemed.

 

“Keith, I really like you. I’m glad you asked this because I was honestly hoping to talk about it too. But in answer to your question: I’d like to say we’re dating. Only if that’s what you want, of course.”

  
Keith’s face lit up so bright at that he could have single-handedly powered the building on it. “Oh, thank God! I was hoping that was the answer because I really wanted to start introducing you as my boyfriend.”

 

“Boyfriend,” Shiro said it out loud like he was testing the feel of the word on his tongue. “I like it.”

 

“Good.” Keith moved forward finally until he was close enough to grab Shiro and pull him down into a kiss.

 

The suddenness of the kiss surprised Shiro, but he melted into it after only a second’s hesitation. 

 

The kiss turned heated almost instantaneously and next thing Shiro knew, Keith had turned them around and was pushing him back to the bed. He felt the back of his knees hit the edge of the mattress and sat down, welcoming the feeling of Keith pressing his weight into Shiro’s body and forcing him to lie back. He noticed some of the rose petals falling away but decided to ignore the mess for now.

 

They took their time removing their clothes, and once Keith was fully seated inside of him, Shiro was panting and squirming, whining at the slow pace. But Keith was in no rush and so took his time, almost tortuously so.

 

By the time Shiro felt his orgasm building, he warned Keith it was coming. Keith nodded and leaned forward, placing a soft kiss to the place where Shiro’s neck met his shoulder.

 

“Do you want me to mark you?” Keith panted in his ear, allowing his hot breath to tease Shiro’s skin.

 

“Yes,” Shiro replied instantly, pouring every bit of his desire for it into his voice. “Please, mark me. Let the world know we’re bonded now.”

 

“Nothing would make me happier, baby.” Keith said, nuzzling along Shiro’s neck.

 

Shiro couldn’t hold back any longer, and his release happened with a silent cry from him. He could feel the swelling of Keith’s knot within him, and that’s when he bit down hard on Shiro’s nape.

 

The pain only added to his pleasure as Shiro came down from his orgasm. He was vaguely aware of the sight and smell of his own blood beading at the small bite marks in his neck, but he easily ignored them. His senses were too overwhelmed with Keith’s scent and the feeling of his large knot binding them together.

 

Keith finally came, spilling deep inside of Shiro. Finished, he collapsed on top of Shiro, basking in the afterglow as they waited for his knot to go down.

 

They took several minutes to regain their breath, exchanging lazy kisses and Keith occasionally licking at the mark he’d left on Shiro, trying to help speed the process along with whatever enzymes existed inside alpha saliva that were supposed to help heal a bite wound faster.

 

“You’re really amazing Shiro,” Keith mumbled as he nuzzled as close as he could, tracing lazy circles on Shiro’s chest with his fingers.

 

Shiro replied with a soft kiss to the crown of Keith’s head. “So are you, cherry bomb.”

  
Keith wrinkled his nose at the new nickname. “Cherry bomb?”

  
“Too much?” Shiro asked, but couldn’t help the small laugh that bubbled from his chest at the look Keith gave him. “Okay, it’s too much. Sorry.”   
  


There was a slight pause as Keith seemed to be contemplating his response. When he spoke, the tone of his voice was light and laughing, letting Shiro know he wasn’t mad. “I guess I’m okay with it so long as nobody else hears you call me that.”

  
“Done.” Shiro was grinning. “I love you enough to agree to keep stupid pet names to private settings.”

  
As soon as the words left Shiro’s mouth, he panicked. Shit, they had just established that they were  _ dating _ , was it too soon to say ‘I love you’? Of course it was, he knew he’d somehow screwed things up before they’d even had a chance to begin.

 

“You love me, huh?” Was Keith’s not very eloquent response.

 

Shiro sighed. This was what he had just admitted his love to. “Yes. I love you, Keith.”

 

“I love you too.”

 

“I’m glad. Now, as soon as your knot goes down I vote on a round two.”   
  


The grin Keith fixed Shiro with was downright feral. “For sure.”

 

And so after another, considerably rougher round, the two fell asleep in Keith’s bed, too exhausted but happy to do anything other than lie together and leech the body heat from each other.

 

Shiro couldn’t help but feel that things had come full circle, he caught himself thinking right as his brain was clouding over with sleep. 

 

_ I guess I really do love an alpha. Who would have thought? _

 

He wouldn’t have it any other way.   
  
  


  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to come scream at me about Voltron, Yuri!!! On Ice, and other nerdy shit on [Tumblr](http://theinsanefox.tumblr.com)!!!
> 
> I'm also on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/FoxyLovesFandom)!


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